Cases

Full-text search for tens of thousands of documents

VluchtelingenWerk Nederland (Dutch Council for Refugees) · 2024 · Ronald Portier as developer/consultant

Context

VluchtelingenWerk Nederland had tens of thousands of documents where finding specific information was virtually impossible. Staff could only browse or search by exact filenames.

Challenge

How do you quickly find a document when you only know it concerns a particular country, or dates from a specific period? The existing search functionality in Odoo ERP was not sufficient.

Approach

Extended the Odoo ERP ORM with PostgreSQL Full Text Search. Automatic definition of TSVECTOR fields and GIN indexes based on them. Combined with metadata such as country and date, so users can search on text content and filter by structure simultaneously.

Result

Documents that previously took an average of 15–20 minutes to find can now be retrieved in under 3 seconds via combinations of text, country and date.

Odoo ERP migration go-live in Cape Town

South African trade organisation · 2025 · Ronald Portier as on-site consultant

Context

A trade organisation based in Cape Town faced the migration of a large Odoo ERP database to a new installation. The migration had to be guided on location, with minimal downtime.

Challenge

The PostgreSQL database had grown significantly and response times were degrading. In addition, problems in the reseller portal and SMS provider integration surfaced during go-live.

Approach

On-site in Cape Town: PostgreSQL database tuning, fixing issues in the reseller portal (Odoo OWL framework), and repairing the SMS provider integration. Directly on the production environment, under time pressure.

Result

Successful go-live within the planned period. The reseller portal worked correctly immediately, SMS integration was restored, and database response time was back to production level.

Seamless planning system integration for psychological testing

Human Company / Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways) · 2024 · Ronald Portier as developer/consultant

Context

Human Company, a bureau for psychological tests, provides test data to NS. Planners at NS fill in candidates. Results are sent back to Human Company.

Challenge

Both organisations worked with separate planning systems that were not connected. Manual coordination cost planners hours each week and led to errors.

Approach

Created batch tasks in Odoo ERP to call the NS planning system REST API. Developed controllers in Odoo ERP to offer a REST API to the NS systems. Including unit tests and tests in Postman and Swagger.

Result

Seamless integration of both organisations' planning systems. Planners save hours of manual coordination each week, and test results are available faster and more accessibly for NS employees.